Turning Sadness into Kindness
by LavenderMoon718
Summary: Sometimes you make bonds in the weirdest situations. Being asked to join a new team comprised of young heroes was one of them. But then again being normal has always been overrated for Mel. Rated T for Mel's occasional potty mouth.
1. Chapter 1: And it Begins

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or Young Justice: Invasion. But I do own my OC and anything affiliated with her. I also don't own Dragon Ball Z, W.I.T.C.H., and other stuff that I borrowed ideas and concepts from._**

**_Chapter One_**

_In which __a question is asked, a reply is (eventually) given, and introductions are made_

**Gotham**

**July 6, 20:54 EDT**

"So you want **me**…to join a team of young heroes you're assembling. Any particular reason, I mean you don't even know me."

The Dark Knight covered eyes narrowed at the seemingly nonchalant attitude towards this opportunity he was offering. Think about it, how many people can say they were visited by Gotham's dark hero and he wasn't there to interrogate you/kick your ass. Here he was taking time out of his convoluted schedule to visit the metahuman teenager to offer a position on a league affiliated team and she was treating like he was asking her favorite ice cream was. Sure the only reason he was doing this was because the girl was The Conduit of Aether (and therefore needed to be watched over) and this was a way to keep a metahuman living in his city in check.

"I don't need to know you, but I know of you." His low, raspy voice explained. "It's quite simple. You're The Conduit of Aehter, a being that is revered for being the first known metahuman in human history. And you need to be properly train to handle the responsibility that comes with powers."

The girl let a huff and set down her cup of instant coffee on the aged wooden table separating her and Batman. "I'm pretty sure you were informed that I've had proper training already. I spent 4 years at the Chouwa compound all the way in Japan to learn how to control and use my powers." The temple-compound hybrid was a place dedicated to serving the Conduit. It was named after the Conduit Takashi Chouwa, a very powerful, but kind Conduit. It was just a temple at first to honor the Conduit's and their powers, but that changed after the Cult of Nether was founded. A cult that was, at first harmless fanatics, but the group soon became corrupted and obsessed. They wanted to sacrifice the Conduit to Nether energy and use it to control the corrupted metahuman and plunge the world into eternal darkness. So the temple grew into a compound to help protect the Conduits from the cult until the Conduit was trained enough to protect his or herself.

"Yes you did get training but you have no experience fighting in the heat in the moment. When face with real opposition you'll freeze up, like a scared little girl."

An obnoxious laugh sounded out from the cigarette smoke filled living room. "He's got you pegged, Simba." The middle-aged woman sipped her beer and went back to watching T.V.

"Oh dear grandmother," Melanie spoke in a tight, forced voice. "You should be careful when laughing and smoking, I would hate you for you to choke on a cigarette you bitter old hag." Her voice raised to spit out the insult.

She turned back to face Batman, ignoring her grandmother's dismissive wave, who was projecting a dark annoyed aura for being ignore for a petty argument.

"Listen I don't see why I need more training. That crazy cult hasn't been heard from in years." She slightly leaned back in her creaky wooden chair. "Besides I just got back in the States a few weeks ago, shouldn't I have more time to adjust?"

"Well you need to adjust fast." He said in a terse tone, swiftly standing up from his chair and stalked towards the living room window. "The cult has been silent because there hasn't been a Conduit in about 100 years since it skipped a generation, but once word gets out there's another one you'll need all the training you need to not only fight back but to resist." He slid opened the window and stepped on the ash ridden ledge. "You have two days from today to decide. I left instructions on what to do once you made your decision. Goodbye Melanie Coventry." He turned his cowl covered head towards her grandmother. "Ms. Sotomayor." Her reply was to start hacking up enough tar to repave the driveway and a muddled _'Adios'_. Surprisingly Batman didn't seem fazed, but then again Mel figured he's seen a lot worse.

Batman looked like he was preparing to leave out the window when something caught his eye.

"You play?" He nodded towards an wooden electric piano. It was surrounded by stacks of sheet music and an old timey metronome sat on top of it. Melanie smiled and her eyes sparked up with interest as she turned to look at her old piano.

"Yeah since I was 4 years old, I even won a few compe-." She turned her head towards Batman, only to notice that he was nowhere to be found.

'_I didn't even hear or sense him leave.' _Melanie thought as her eyes widen in shock and awe.

"I told you no one likes to hear you ramble on about that music crap." Her grandmother said in between sips of beer.

Settling for a glare at the back of her grandmother's head, Mel leaned all the way into her contemplating her encounter with one of the most renowned heroes in the world. She knew eventually she would be confronted by someone from the Justice League. Powers like hers were dangerous left uncheck. She just didn't expect Batman to be sitting at her kitchen table when she got back from buying cigarettes for her grandmother. After all he wasn't known for having nice chats with people. But there he was, offering a place on a team with experienced (well at least more experienced than her) young heroes. Even though she was the Conduit of Aether, Melanie still thought of herself of a simple 14 year old that lived in a crappy neighborhood with a horrible grandmother. In fact she always thought it was ironic that she was special even though she came from a not-so special background.

"He said he left instructions but I didn't see him-." She cut herself off when she spotted a cell phone-like device sitting on top of the window ledge Batman used. She shuffled over and picked up the phone with caution ( she was pretty sure it wasn't going to explode or anything but living in Gotham for most of your life kind of makes you paranoid). She pressed the jutted out side -button and the screen of the device flashed to life. It had a simple white black background and only had two things on the screen: an 'accept' or 'decline' touch icon.

"I guess my instructions will be given if I push the 'accept' icon." She stared down at the device for a few more moments until she turned it off and pocketed it. She needed to think about it. If there was one valuable thing that her grandmother taught her (and there weren't many that were valuable) it was to never make decisions half-heartedly.

Maybe going to sleep will help.

* * *

The city of Gotham was marred with many alleyways of many types. Some had drug dealers in them, leaning on brick walls with a calm nefarious air around them. Others had thugs lurking about them, waiting for the next unfortunate person to wander foolishly in their domain. Others were simply just littered with forgotten trash and abandon animals that scurry about to find their next meal. Melanie was currently in this type of alley, staring down a raggedy black cat. She had decided to accept Batman's offer after a night of deliberation. She figured that it would be boring to have powers and not really use them. It'd be a waste of talent, as the saying goes.

The cat didn't seem like it was going to let up anytime soon, so Melanie shifted her gaze away with a defeated sigh. The tattered ebony cat gained an attitude of superiority and strutted away further into the dank alley.

'_That's one strange feline.' _She shook her head in amusement. Her further musings of the curious cat was silence as a slight prickle went up her spine.

'_Someone's coming.' _She hastily turned around and narrowed her eyes at the approaching figure. She sensed it was a non-threaten presence put she still tensed up; ready to defend herself if need be. The figure got closer and revealed itself to be a tall, bald black man wearing a nice humble suit.

He stopped in front of her offering a polite smile and a nod. "Hello. You must be the Conduit of Aether, but you want to go by the name Celestial, correct?" She nodded, still tensed up. She noticed that he had an accent and spoke very formal English. "Well I am-." He paused for a moment and suddenly the tall black man was replaced with a tall green Martian with gleaming red eyes. "Martian Manhunter, pleased to make your acquaintance."

Her eyes seemed to bug out her sockets at the revelation. Can you blame her though? Sure she's met Batman, but he wasn't a powerful telepathic alien from Mars (no matter what the internet rumors say). His presence left her a little shell shocked, so she ended up giving an awkward combination of a curtsey and a formal bow.

"Nice to meet you, sir. Um, so how are we getting to the meeting place." She inquired as she stumbled to get out of her uncomfortable pose.

His polite smile turned amused at her nervous antics. "Follow me please." He started to walk towards the decrypted phone booth that stood haggardly inside the alleyway. She followed behind and they both stopped in front of the booth that had a 'Out of Order' sign taped on its doors. He turned to her, "This broken phone booth is actually a zeta beam transporter." Mel nodded in understanding. The device Batman left her had mentioned not only the place to meet the league member (Martian Manhunter, apparently) in Gotham, but it also explained a little about the transport system that the Justice League used to get around the world. "We're going to use this to transport to the Hall of Justice to meet up with my niece. She will also be joining the team." He stepped into the booth and turned towards her to give her some instructions. "I'm going transport myself and then once I'm gone step inside and enter in the code given to you a couple of days ago."

"Got it." And with that he disappeared in a blue-white flash. She waited a few seconds and stepped inside. And soon I was covered by the same blue-white light. Transported to her new life.

* * *

**Happy Harbor**

**July 8, 8:04 EDT**

"Wait, six of us?"

"This is Martian Manhunter's niece, Miss Martian. And this is the Conduit of Aether." Mel heard Batman introduce her and Miss Martian as they walked towards a group of teenage boys of various ages.

"Hi." Miss Martian waved and smiled shyly.

"Hey how's it going? You can just call me Celestial, less of mouthful that way." She gave them a closed-eyed smile while rubbing the back her head nervously.

The teenage boys looked at them in surprise, not expecting additions to team. Especially girl additions like them. One a red-headed Martian with the same green skin color of her uncle and the other a light brown skinned girl with even lighter brown wavy hair and piercing gold eyes like a wild cat.

"Liking this team more every minute." The red-hair boy elbowed the short black hair boy next to him. He walked up confidently towards the girls with a grin. "Name's Kid Flash. And that's Robin and Aqualad but you two don't need remember their names." The three boys walked up to them with friendly faces. The black hair boy wearing sunglasses turned slightly to wave over the tall, muscled black haired boy standing in the back.

"It's an honor to be included." Miss Martian said respectfully.

"I have to say it's nice to be around people my age and not stuck in a compound with old men with hair coming out their ears." Melanie deadpanned, causing them to laugh a little.

"Hey Superboy, come over and say hi to Miss M and Celestial." The quiet giant cautiously walked over and stood with the rest of the group. Suddenly Miss Martian's shirt morphed into the same black and red scheme as Superboy's shirt.

"I like your shirt." She said bashfully, getting Superboy to crack a small smile.

"Today's the day." Aqualad softly commented as he laid his eyes on the new group.

* * *

**Please Review, I would appreciate it. This is my second story and my first multi-chapter story, so I actually was apprehensive to post it. I will warn you guys that unlike some other stories where there is an OC character inserted into the storyline, this story isn't focused on romance or my character's romantic life. Not that there's anything wrong with those stories (I actually like quite a few of them), but I wanted to focus on love that comes with friendship and bonds. So long story short, don't expect her to get with anybody during the first part of the story. Of course that's not saying someone won't like her romantically, but that doesn't mean she'll notice or care to acknowledge it. Maybe...you'll have to see what happens.**


	2. Chapter 2: Welcome To Happy Harbor

**Disclaimer: See First chapter.**

**Chapter Two**

_In which Wally flirts too much, burnt cookies are eaten, and trust is earned_

* * *

**Happy Harbor**

**July 18, 11:16 EDT**

'_**Recognized Robin: B-01'**_

'_**Recognized Kid Flash: B-03'**_

The zeta beam transporters flashed bright as both Kid Flash and Robin stepped out with excited grins on their faces as they ran towards the rest of the team.

"Did you ask him?"

"What did he say?" Both Robin and Kid Flash asked one right after the other.

"He's arriving right now." Aqualad answered his excited friends.

Kid Flash and Robin eagerly ran off towards one of the cave's non-zeta tube entrance, the rest followed in a slightly slower pace. The entrance opened up as Red Tornado descended down. His rapid red spins whipped around everyone's clothes and hair. Mel couldn't help but to slightly gawked in awe. It isn't every day you see a machine that had powers like wind manipulation.

"Red Tornado!" Kid Flash greeted loudly over the whirling winds.

"Greetings. Is there a reason you intercept me outside the cave." The wind robot asked in his polite but standard monotone voice.

"We were hoping you had a mission for us." Aqualad asked. The rest nodded in agreement with hopeful faces.

"Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibility."

"But it's been over a week and-." Robin was quickly cut off my Red Tornado's assurance that the team would be tested soon and that they should just enjoy each other's company.

"I wasn't aware this team was put together in order for us to learn how to become socialites." Melanie snarked at Red Tornado. "I mean what's the point of this team if all we're going to do is sit around on our hands." Aqualad nodded in agreement.

"Yes she's right; this team is not a social club."

Red Tornado agreed with the Atlantian and the Conduit but suggested that they should all get to know each other as a team building exercise and familiarize themselves with the cave. To keep busy, he says.

"Does he really think we're falling for this?" Robin asked with a scoff.

"Ooh I'll find out." Miss Martian offered eagerly. They watched as she narrowed her eyes at Red Tornado as enter the cave. She stopped after a few moments realizing it was useless. "Sorry I forgot he's a machine, inorganic; I cannot read his mind."

"Nice try though." Then Kid Flash walked up her to look her in the eyes flirtatiously. "So…you know what I'm thinking right now."

"We all know what you're thinking now." Robin elbowed Kid, earning himself 'ow' for his efforts.

"Yeah, unfortunately." Melanie let out an unamused laugh. Kid Flash's attempts at flirting kind of reminded her of her grandmother's attempts towards Mr. Johnson, a body builder turned freelance writer that lived across the street. Till this day he still looks out his window before he goes out to make sure he doesn't run into her grandmother, especially after the 'Bathrobe incident of 2003'.

"And now we tour the clubhouse." Aqualad voice was filled with annoyance and obvious frustration.

"Well Superboy and I live here so we can be your tour guides." Miss Martian offered generously.

The rest of the teens turned to look at the tall boy who had yet to say anything. "Don't look at me."

"We won't. A private tour sounds much more fun." Then Kid Flash turned to wink at Mel. "Especially if you get beautiful here to help you out."

"S-she never said anything about private." Robin argued as Melanie resisted the urge to flip off the speedster.

"Team building exercise, we'll all go." Aqualad commanded and with that they followed Miss Martian around the mountain as she listed off small facts about it. They walked into the interior of the cave once more.

"The cave was hollowed out my Superman and Green Lantern in the early days of the League." Kid Flash explained.

"Then why abandon it for the Hall of Justice." Superboy asked.

"The cave's secret location was…comprised." Aqualad explained

"So they traded it in for a tourist trap. Yeah that makes sense." Superboy scoffed at the seemingly illogical move.

"Wait." Melanie's eyebrows shot up in realization. "So if villains know where the cave is located shouldn't we be worried about getting attacked." She scratched her cheek in worry.

Robin reached and grabbed her hand in a calming manner. "The bad guys know we know they know about the place so they'll never think to look here." He ended with a smile.

"He means," Wally not-so-slyly took Robin's hand off of hers, " we're hiding in plain sight."

Melanie's golden eyes flashed in understanding. "Oh that makes sense in a…reverse psychology kind of way." She turned to Kid Flash and gave him a slight nod. "Thanks for clearing that up."

He smiled at her while Robin gave him an evil glare from behind his glasses.

"I smell smoke." Superboy sniffed the air.

Miss Martian let out a startled gasp. "My cookies!" She then flew off down the hallway.

"Cookies?" Melanie looked at the boys who just shrugged, just as confused as she was. They followed after the Martian and found the green girl in the kitchen taking out a batch of charcoal black cookies.

"I was trying out Grammy Jones recipe from episode 17-." Miss Martian stopped herself and started to chuckle nervously. "Uh never mind."

"I bet they would've tasted great." Robin comforted her, and then he turned to smirk at Kid Flash who was gorging himself. "He doesn't seem to mind."

He stopped mid-chew once he noticed everyone's eyes on him. "I… have a serious metabolism."

"I'll…make some more." She said a little unsurely.

"In any case it was a nice sentiment." Aqualad assured. Sure they were burnt but as the saying goes, it's the thought that counts.

"Thanks Aqualad."

"Please. We are off duty." Aqualad started. "Call me Kaldur'ahm. Actually my friends just call me Kaldur." He ended with a small but kind smile.

"I'm Wally" Kid Flash lowered his voice in a flirty manner. He leaned his elbows against the counter while staring at the Martian and the golden eyed girl with a flirty gaze. "See, I already trust you guys with my secret identity." He then gestured over to Robin. "Unlike Mr. Dark Glasses over here. Batman has forbidden Boy Wonder from telling anyone his real name."

"Well I guess that can't be helped." Melanie said with a shrug, not noticing the smile that replaced the Boy Wonder's annoyed frown. She's met Batman once and already has figured out he can be a hardass when it comes to rules. "In any case my name is Melanie Coventry. You can call me Mel for short, if you want."

Miss Martian smiled, happy for all the introductions. "Well my name is no secret. You can call me M'gann M'orzz. Or Megan. It's an Earth name, and I'm on earth now." She ended with a pleased smile. Being on Earth was something she dreamed of for the longest time and now she was actually living out her dream. And with people around her age. Well physical age at least.

With all the introductions of names it escaped everyone's minds that Superboy had yet been given a name. Not wanting to break the happy atmosphere, Superboy started to stalk away slowly. But he suddenly stopped and stooped over in pain, clutching his head.

"Get out of my head." He growled and aimed a fierce glare at M'gann.

"_**What's wrong? I don't understand**__." _ Miss Martian asked telepathically in everyone's minds. This caused everyone else to start clutching their heads in slight pain from the sudden intrusion.

"_**But everyone on Mars communicates telepathically**__." _This caused the pressure in everyone's minds to increase.

"M'gann, stop!" Aqualad said in a pained and commanding voice. After a few moments have passed and the pressure lifted off a bit, Kaldur continued on with his usual soft, patience tone. "Things are different on Earth. Here your telepathic powers are an extreme invasion of privacy."

"Besides, Cadmus G-gnomes left a bad taste in Superboy's mind." Wally added in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Miss Martian looked over at the clone with an apologetic expression on her face. "I-I'm…sorry. I didn't mean to-."

"Just stay out." Superboy cut her off harshly. He stormed off towards the living room area. For a moment the rest of the team just stood in the kitchen, not quite knowing what to do with themselves.

"Well this got awkward real quick." Melanie mumbled though apparently Kid Flash heard her because he replied with a "you can say that again."

"Hey I know something we can do." Miss Martian perked up from her solemn state and flew away towards the hallway in the living room area. The rest followed wanting to get away from the uncomfortable atmosphere.

Miss Martian flew back to the living room to give the sitting Superboy a pleading expression. "Superboy, please."

"Don't talk to me." He turned away from her but peeked at her morose face and decided to follow anyway. They all gathered inside an elevator that brought them down to the Hangar Bay, another non-zeta tube exit of the spacious cave. In the middle of the bay stood an oval shaped piece of metal streaked with black and red.

"This is my Martian Bioship." M'gann motioned happily towards the large piece of metal.

"Cute. Not very aerodynamic, but cute nonetheless." Wally gave his esteemed opinion with a lazy shrug.

"So…do you sit on…top of it?" Mel asked unsurely as she tilted her head to get a better look at. She was getting a certain feeling from it. The same feeling she got from living beings.

'_Oh this ship must be organic. Wow alien technology is something else.'_

The green Martian giggled a bit at the unsure comments. "It's at rest sillies. I'll wake it up." And with a silent mental command, the large, oval shaped piece of metal transformed into a larger, weirdly shaped ship with the same color scheme. Turning back to her now gawking teammates she asked. "Well? Are you guys coming?" With nods of agreement, the rest of the team followed the martian inside the alien ship. While everyone else was looking around in amazement, Megan gave a few commands to the ship that brought up a commander's chair and five seats for the rest of the team. "Strap in for launch." She said in as she sat down in the pilot.

"Woah!" Robin exclaimed in surprise as seatbelts appeared suddenly to cross over and strap everyone in.

"Red Tornado, please open the bay doors." Megan requested and a few moments later the team of teenagers were off soaring the blue skies of Happy Harbor.

"Incredible!" Robin breathed out. He couldn't help it; the way the ship dipped and sliced into the air was flawless. The Bat-Plane had noting on this.

"She sure is…" Wally sighed unknowingly with a dreamy gaze. He quickly snapped out of it once he noticed both Robin and Megan were staring at him with blank looks (well Megan had a blank look; Robin had a more amused, oh-my-god-you're-desperate look). "I-I mean the ship is. Which like all ships…are a…is a she…" He ended lamely.

Snickering, Robin turned to Megan. "Fast with his feet, not~ so much his mouth."

"DUDE!" Wally exclaimed with a slight flush of embarrassment. He hated how his friend could embarrass him so easily. And in front of girls no less.

Melanie had pulled out a small novel out of the pocket of her blue shirt-hoodie once it fell silent for a moment. Though while reading she did hear Aqualad and Superboy talk among themselves and Megan and Robin whispering, she didn't look up from her book until Robin asked to see some shapeshifting from Miss Martian. She watched as Megan morphed into a female version of Robin and then spin into a female version of Kid Flash.

"It's wrong that I think I'm hot?" Wally muttered as he stared at the transformed Martian.

"Well if you think narcissism is wrong, than yeah." She turned to Wally with a raised eyebrow causing him to flushed red and laugh nervously (she heard Robin cackle from behind her).

Megan morphed back to her original form as Robin gave her few claps of applause. "Nice. That was pretty impressive. But you know you're not going fool anyone with those." He gestured with his hands to indicate that she was going to have hard time convincing enemies that everyone she transforms in is a girl.

"Mimicking boys is a lot harder." To prove her point she quickly shapeshifted into a perfect replica of Melanie and what she was currently wearing (_'Wow, she even got my raggedy blue converse shoes right.' _Melanie thought).

"And your clothes?" Kaldur asked as Megan switched back to her normal form.

"They're organic like the ship." She explained. "They respond to my mental commands."

"As long as they're the only ones." Superboy commented gruffly.

"Ooh! Can you do that 'ghosting through walls' thing like Martian Manhunter." Kid Flash asked excitedly in an effort to rebuff Superboy's icy comment.

"You mean density shifting?" She asked for clarification." No…it's a very advance technique." Try as she might, she just wasn't as strong or experienced as her uncle yet.

To make her feel better Robin added a little tid bit about Kid Flash and the nosebleeds he gets when he tries to vibrate his molecules like the Flash can. Getting a "Dude!" response from Wally. Megan in return showed something she could do-camouflage mode-.

"So Melanie," Robin started, getting the attention of the book reading girl. "did you always know you were the Conduit of Aether?" This got the attention of everyone in the ship (except Superboy but he was just being a tsundere and pretending not to listen). Aqualad was especially interested in learning more about the young Conduit. Back in Atlantis, when he was still studying magic, they were taught a few things about the Conduit. They learned that the Conduit was possibly the first metahuman (or at least the first known human with powers) on Earth and was a powerful elemental magic user. The ability to use and manipulate the very same essence that has been said to been used by God to create the universe made the Conduit a powerful mortal. So when Kaldur learned one of his new teammates was such a powerful being he was surprise to see it was a 14 year old girl. But his doubts were quickly put to rest when he looked in her eyes. The intensity and power that flowed off the golden iris's told him that once she was older she would be someone not to be taken lightly.

Mel thought about it for a moment before answering. "No actually the monks at the Chouwa temple knew before me." She pulled out a gold tear-shaped amulet with small but intricate designs from under her shirt-hoodie. "You see this necklace. Once I was born it started to react and they used it to track me down. This necklace has been with many of my past reincarnations."

"So that necklace is able to determine the Conduit of Aether." Aqualad asked for clarification.

Melanie nodded. "Yeah and there are other factors too. For example my unusual gold eyes are the reflection of the pure power inside my body and this amulet is usually clear unless I'm wearing it. She took it off and handed it to Wally, which caused the amulet to turn clear.

"Whoa." Wally breathed as he handed back the necklace.

"So you're like me. You had no choice." Superboy suddenly spoke up.

"What do you mean?" Melanie raised an eyebrow at the vague statement.

Superboy let at a small annoyed huff at having to explain himself. "Well I was created for a specific purpose." To be Superman's clone and replace him in case of extenuating circumstances. "And you were born for a specific purpose." To become the guardian of the Earth and promote peace and prosperity. "It seems both us didn't have a choice."

Melanie's eyes widen at Superboy's simple, but philosophical comments. "You're right." She narrowed her golden eyes at her amulet. "I didn't have a choice."

"Red Tornado to Miss Martian." Red Tornado's robotic voice echoed through the Bioship, effectively cutting off Mel's approaching dark thoughts. "An emergency alert has been triggered at the Happy Harbor Power Plant. I suggest you and the team investigate covertly. I am sending the coordinates now."

"Received, adjusting course." Miss Martian replied.

Robin scoffed and frowned at Red Tornado's instructions. "Red Tornado's keeping us busy again."

"Well," Megan started as she brought the seemingly invisible ship down near power plant. "a fire led you to Superboy. We should find out what caused the alarm."

"I think I know the cause." Superboy said, bringing everyone's attention to a rapid tornado that was speeding towards the Bioship. Everyone braced themselves as Megan struggled to get them out of the windy natural disaster. She finally got the ship under control and brought it down near the ground, allowing the group to jump out of the ship.

They all watched with wide eyes as tornados whipped through the power plant's parking lot.

"Robin, are tornados common in New England?" Aqualad asked but turned around to see the Boy Wonder missing. "Robin?" The whole team looked around with surprise looks marred on their faces. All they could find or actually hear was a creepy chuckle.

"But he was just here." M'gann said, befuddled.

'_He's good. I didn't even sense him leave the group.'_ Mel thought impressed but slightly annoyed at Robin for leaving everyone behind without saying anything. Though she wasn't exactly 'Miss Prim and Proper', she still knew running off without telling someone was rude.

They all raced into the power plant and saw Robin being thrown backwards by swirling whirlwinds coming from a bulky red android with a scarf.

"Who's your new friend?" Superboy inquired as he jumped next to Robin.

"I don't know, he didn't say." Robin replied as he struggled to sit up. "I didn't catch his name, but he plays kind of rough!" He yelled after the clone that jumped to attack the android, only to be harshly thrown into the wall.

Melanie flew next to Robin and pulled him up effortlessly with one hand. Ignoring the "Thanks" she received, she narrowed her eyes at the windy menace as he started to introduce himself. _'Hm. That's strange I don't sense any life energy from him.'_

"My apologies." The villain said in a sarcastic, posh voice. "You may address me as Mister Twister."

"Really? That's your name?" Melanie asked with a mocking tone. "I didn't realize villains nowadays were getting their names from nursery rhyme books." She noticed Miss Martian, Aqualad, and Kid Flash form up beside her and Robin. She caught Aqualad's eye and he nodded at her, communicating the silent message, _'Get ready to attack.'_ She flew towards Mister Twister with the rest of them but Kid Flash sped ahead with his superspeed, though unfortunately he got thrown outside after he attacked. Aqualad, M'gann, and her continued to charge towards the menace- Mel hands sparked to life with crackling blue electricity- but Mister Twister threw out powerful whirlwinds that threw all behind where Robin was still standing.

"I was prepared to be challenged by superhero." Mister Twister said. "I was not, however, expecting children."

After glancing at his fallen comrades, Robin reached behind him to descreetly pull out two birdarangs. "We're not children!" He yelled out while he swiftly threw his weapons towards the enemy. The first one was detonated by the winds while the other hit its target but was plucked away by the wind manipulator.

"Objectively you are." Mister Twister said in a demeaning way. "Have you no adult supervision? Frankly I find your presence quite…disturbing."

'_Ugh that smarted.' _Mel groaned in her head as she rubbed the new tiny hole in her black leggings. _'I forgot that wind beats electricity. I guess it's time to switch from electrical attacks to pure energy.' _She pushed herself up and went over next to Robin with the rest of her comrades as he was insulting the scarf wearing enemy. _ 'Or magic.' _ She added as an afterthought. She didn't really like using magic since she had remember to recite her spells in Latin while her other powers didn't require much thought.

"Well we hate to see you disturbed. Let's see if you're more turbed once we kick your can!" Robin finished his rant which signaled Miss Martian to use her telekinesis to burst the lid off the steam vent directly above Mister Twister, causing copious amount of steam to surround him. Mel quickly raised her hand towards the steam covered villain.

"**Amoveo in gas, qui eius soliditate!**" She shouted, her usual laid-back voice came out sounding like a forceful older woman. Her magic transmuted the steam into ice, encasing Mister Twister in a block of ice. Seeing an opening, Superboy charged forward and jumped towards the frozen villain, but the ice suddenly shattered as Mister Twister broke free with a blast of wind, knocking back Superboy like last time. M'gann flew at the glowing blue eye baddie but was hit by a thrown Superboy. Dodging their fallen comrades, Aqualad, Robin, and Celestial charged forward. Aqualad charged up his fist with electricity while Mel prepared to shoot a ray of energy. But Mister Twister generated small tornados under them and forced the three to crash in each other.

"You were right. That **was** quite turbing." And with that the wind manipulator flew outside. It took a few moments, but they all got up and rushed outside to see Wally fighting Mister Twister. The red-head speedster was thrown into a twister but was saved by Miss Martian telekinesis.

"I got you Wally."

"Whoa, thanks."

"I would have thought that you all would have learned your limitations by now." The android leered at them.

"What do you want?!" Aqualad yelled angrily at the snooty robot.

Mister Twister flew up high in the sky, probably to make him even more imposing. "Isn't it obvious? I'm waiting for a real hero."

"Read his mind. Find a weakness." Kaldur commanded Miss Martian while glaring at the flying villain.

"Wait I don't think that would be much help." Melanie warned.

"Why not?" Kaldur turned to look at her with a confused expression.

"I can sense the life energy from living beings-people, plants, animals, anything organic-but I couldn't sense anything coming from Mister Twister. He must be inorganic." She finished explaining.

"Megan, try to read his mind just to be sure." It wasn't that he didn't trust Celestial but this was a powerful enemy and they needed to be sure what they were dealing with.

"But I thought I wasn't supposed to read minds." She remembered how upset she made everyone when she intruded there mind and so she was hesitant to use her telepathy powers.

"It's okay with the bad guys." Robin shouted frustrated.

M'gann narrowed her eyes at Mister Twister and concentrated for a few moments. "Nothing. I'm getting nothing. Hello Megan." She slapped herself on the forehead. "Mister Twister is Red Tornado in disguise. He's inorganic like Melanie said. An android. How many androids do you that can generate tornados?"

"Uh…are you sure?" Melanie asked doubtful. "Red Tornado never really came off as this haughty and self-entitled. And I'm pretty sure he's not known for his acting skills."

"Red Tornado sent us here." Aqualad said also doubtful. After all, wasn't this going little too far for a test.

Robin didn't seem to have these doubts though. "After saying we'd be tested soon enough. This is his test. Something to keep us busy." He spat out in anger.

"Speedy called it; we're a joke." Kid Flash said in disappointment.

The boys walked forward to glare up at 'Red Tornado'. "We know who you are and what you want." Robin pointed at the android. "So let's end this." Aqualad finished.

"Consider it ended." The android said in a grim voice as he rose up and formed to huge funnels. The funnels caused copious amounts of dark purple clouds to swirl around in the once clear blue sky.

"Impressive show but we will not indulge you. We will not engage!" Aqualad shouted over the harsh winds. Suddenly thunder claps and lightning bolts also filled the sky, causing the teens anger to switch to worry.

"Can Red Tornado… do that?" Wally gestured to the electricity sparkling through the sky.

"You think I'm Red Tornado? Ironic." A fierce lightning bolt then struck the ground near the team's feet, causing a sizable explosion. The rest of the team was thrown on their backs while Celestial and Superboy withstood the attack (she was able to absorb some of the energy of the explosion). She flew up alongside Superboy who had jumped to attack the android. Mister Twister sent bolts of lightning at them, which hit Superboy and caused him to crash into the ground. Melanie put out her hand to deflect/absorb her bolt of lightning and charged her fist up with energy. Seeing that electrical attacks wouldn't work on the girl, the scarf wearing android sent a powerful wind gale to throw her into the ground near her other unconscious teammates.

She woke up to Mister Twister threatening them and giving them the standard 'stay away or else' clause. The golden eyed girl got up and pulled up her black elbow guards as the android flew away in the distance.

"What happened?" Wally asked as he prepared to get up.

"I placed the Bioship in front of us." M'gann explained weakly. They all turned to look at Superboy angrily hitting some rocks.

"And that makes it okay? The clone growled and stormed towards the Martian. "You tricked us into thinking that Mister Twister was Red Tornado."

"She didn't do it on purpose." Aqualad try to defend her from the angry Kryptonian.

"It was a rookie mistake. We shouldn't have listened." Robin said.

"You are pretty inexperienced…hit the showers, we'll take it from here." Wally decided. He liked her and all but she screwed up big time and they didn't need a liability.

"Hey that's not fair." Melanie spoke up, not liking how the boys were ganging up on her. "I mean I'm just as inexperienced." Sure Megan made a mistake but even the most experienced people make mistakes, it's a part of mortal nature.

"Yeah but you didn't make a stupid mistake." Superboy shot back before settling a glare onto Miss Martian. "Stay out of our way." And with that he, Kid Flash, and Robin made their way towards Mister Twister for round two.

Megan sat glumly on the ground. "I-I was just trying to be part of the team."

Aqualad gave a defeated sigh and rubbed the back of his blond head. "Honestly I'm not sure we really have a team." He then ran off to join his friends but stopped and looked back once he noticed Celestial was still standing beside a moping M'gann. She looked straight back at him and nodded. He nodded back and continued running understanding the silent message, _'Go on. I'll stay here with her and make sure she's okay.'_

After a few encouraging words her and Megan entered the Bioship and flew off near Mount Justice. They both decided it'd be a good idea to contact Red Tornado about his doppelganger. Megan begged him to help the boys but he didn't think that wouldn't really help things at all. He commented on how odd it was that Mister Twister shared his powers and his immunity to telepathy and life sensing abilities.

"Hello Megan!" Miss Martian slapped her forehead and smiled.

Melanie turned around in her chair to face the Martian. "I hope that means you have a plan." She asked. _'I also hope that 'Hello Megan' phrase won't become a thing.' _She added in her head.

"I do!" She said excitedly but then her face became downcast like it was a few minutes ago. "But I don't know if the boys…" She trailed off.

"If they'll listen?" Melanie finished for her. "Well there's only one solution for that."

"What?" M'gann looked at her with inquiring eyes.

Melanie leaned forward and smirked. "Make them listen."

Miss Martian eyes widen and she stared at Mel for a moment before her face turned serious and she gave her a sharp nod. She put her hand up to her temple and reached out to everyone's minds.

"_**Everyone listen**__." _Her voice resonated into everyone's minds. Superboy tried to interrupt her but she took command and continued on. _"__**I know I messed up, but I'm now very clear on what we need to do. Please I need you all to trust me.**__"_ Taking their silence as permission, Miss Martian quickly relayed her plan to everyone.

Some moments later Mister Twister looked up from the group of boys he was fighting and saw Red Tornado flying towards them.

"Hit the showers boys." His robotic voice sounded out as touched down to the ground. "I was hoping you could handle this. Clearly you cannot."

"But we have a plan now." Robin pleaded to the android.

"The subject is not up to debate."

"I was beginning to believe you'd never show up."

"I'm here now." The battle of the tornadoes began. It went on for a while until Mister Twister thought he had got Red Tornado down into submission. He attached cords ready to do as he was made to do when Red Tornado's head morphed into Miss Martian's.

The evil android jumped back in surprise and ended up landing in a tornado created by the rapid spinning speedster. This pushed him into Superboy, who delivered a couple of super-strenghted punches that threw Mister Twister near the harbor. Though damaged the wind manipulator was able to straighten out before he went into the water. He hovered over the water, preparing to charge back at the clone, but this caused him not to notice the flying heel kick that was coming down on him from above until it was too late. The superhuman strength kick delivered by Celestial slammed him harshly into the water where Aqualad electrocuted him using a metal clamp to conduct the electricity. The strong voltage rocketed the android out of the water and onto the cement. Miss Martian raised him up into the air and telepathically ripped his arms off. Just as his arms fell to the ground, Mel had just finished concentrating a large amount of electricity in her two fingertips by circling her arms in an arc. Robin ran up next to her and they both looked at each other with a nod. She shot out the lightning bolt just as Robin threw a couple of birdarangs at the sky bound android, causing the android to fall down in an fiery explosion.

The teens all gathered around the robot as a skinny man that sort looked lliked a monkey climbed out of it crying foul. M'gann glanced at him and then looked at Celestial, who gave her a nod. The Martian used her powers to pick up a nearby boulder and prepared to smash the blithering man.

"M'gann no!" Aqualad yelled in attempt to stop her, but it was too late. She already slammed the large rock into the man. Robin and Kid Flash watched with astonished faces.

Robin walked up to Megan with an angry face. "Don't know how things are done on Mars, but on Earth we don't execute our captives!" He yelled, furious that a new friend of his had just killed living being. And without a shred of remorse to boot.

Melanie walked up to them with a smirk. "You guys really need to learn how to trust us newbies." She nodded her head towards the boulder that was still on the man and watched in amusement at the rest of the guys faces when Megan raised the rock up to reveal a crushed android and not a real human.

"That's why I couldn't read his mind and why Celestial couldn't sense his life energy."

Wally walked up to wrecked android and picked up its detached eyeball. "Cool souvenir."

Aqualad walked up to her and put a webbed hand on her shoulder. "We should have had more faith you." Though he was directing this statement towards Megan he also directed it to Melanie. He had doubted her sensing abilities just because he didn't know how accurate it was compared to Megan's telepathy. "We also shouldn't have discredited you so easily earlier."

"Yeah you guys were pretty much jerks." Mel said as she nonchalantly studied her fingernails.

"Thank you Celestial." Aqualad thanked a bit sarcastically and a bit genuine with a hint of exasperation.

"You're welcome." She answered back sincerely, ignoring the tone of his voice.

"Well anyway," Wally spoke up. "you totally rocked this mission. Get it…rock."

They all stared out him with blank expressions. Robin shook his head in an 'I-can't-believe-this guy's-my-best-friend' kind of way. "Ignore him we're all just turbed you and Celestial are on the team."

"Thanks. Me too." Miss Martian thanked while Melanie just nodded.

* * *

The team had lugged back the remains of the decimated android to Mount Justice to be analyzed.

"It was clearly created to sabotage or destroy." Aqualad stated as the whole team plus Red Tornado gathered around the dissection table.

"Is that why you wouldn't help us?" Megan asked remembering how the red android was adamant in not interfering no matter how much Megan begged and Melanie internally begged by staring at the android with a pair of I'm-disappointed-in-you crossed arms.

"No. This was your battle. I do not believe it is my role to solve your problems for you nor solve my problems for me." Red Tornado explained sagely.

'_That sounds like something Master Fujimoto would say.' _Melanie thought with hint of nostalgia. The elderly master of the Chouwa temple was always spouting off wise and inspirational quotes.

"But if you're in danger…"

"Consider this matter closed." Red Tornado dismissed Miss Martian's worries and walked away from the teenagers.

Wally looked at the android with a contemplative look. "Batman, Aquaman, and Flash would have jumped in and try to fix things."

"Guess if we're going to have a babysitter a heartless machine is exactly what we need." Robin agreed with Wally's statement.

"Dude…harsh!" Wally whispered loudly.

"And inaccurate. I have a heart, carbon-steel alloy." Red Tornado turned around to face Robin. "I also have excellent hearing."

Robin had not enough sense to be embarrassed at his tactless comment. He laughed nervously. "Right sorry. I'll try to be more accurate next time."

"And more respectful." Kaldur chastised his younger friend.

They watched as the android walked away and in a few moments they started to walk away themselves.

"Speedy was so wrong."

"This team thing."

"Might work out." Aqualad finished his two old friends statements.

"Well I don't who this Speedy is," Melanie started as she walked away with the three boys. "But since we can officially say this is a proper team, I've come up with a name for us."

Aqualad raised his eyebrow. "Is that so?" In all honesty, it never occurred to any of them to actually name the newly formed team of teenage superheroes.

She nodded with a self-assured smile and closed eyes. "Yep. Team SuperAwesomeGo." She peeked open her eyes to see the blank stares of her teammates. "What? You guys don't like the name." She let out a defeated sigh. "Fine." She paused and thought for a moment. "Ooh I know. Team SuperAwesomeGo-Eternal."

"That's even worse." Robin added his two-cents.

"What how's that worse? Adding 'eternal' to any name makes it ten times better." Melanie argued. That's why she also called Master Fujimoto, 'Master Fujimoto-Eternal'. Then again, he did do that weird, irritated eyebrow twitch every time she called him that. "For example," She looked over to Wally. "Kid Flash-Eternal."

"I kind of like that one." Wally rubbed his chin contemplation.

"You would." Robin shook his head at his friends' narcissism. Mel was right earlier calling the red-head out on his self-absorbed personality.

"Besides I don't see any you coming up with anything." Melanie added with a frown.

Robin 'hmmed' and thought about it for a moment. "How about…Young Justice."

Melanie looked at Robin strangely for a few moments before deciding on what she thought of the name. "That's stupid. It sounds like a name from a T.V. show or worse, a comic book."

"You're all weird." Superboy simply stated as he and Miss Martian caught up with the group. They all laughed at the clones comment (and laughed even harder when he asked 'what was so funny').

Yeah… they were all weird.

* * *

**Gotham**

**July 18, 22:47 EDT**

After the team hung out a bit and chowed down on some unburnt cookies made by Miss Martian and Melanie, they all called a night and left to go home (or in Superboy's and M'gann's case their rooms). She had spent some time walking around Gotham with Robin debating whether or not any of his made up words were proper English grammar (he insisted that some of them were in the dictionary), until they came to a en passé and decided to finish their debate another day (the little troll ran off with a 'Stay whelmed' knowing it cause her to fire him an irritated leer).

She came home to a dark and empty house, figuring her grandmother was working another shift at work. Expertly dodging the empty beer cans and cigarette bunts on the ground, the teenage girl made her way to her room. She took off her black hair clamp that held back some of her long hair and collapsed on her old bed. The metahuman teenager looked over at her bed stand where an alarm clock and picture stood on top. She pushed herself up and grabbed the picture frame, rubbing the edges of it fondly. The picture was of a smiling Cuban woman with dark long hair and a dainty hand on her swollen stomach and equally as happy black man with short light brown hair throwing a peace sign at the camera.

"Mom, Dad." She said softly at the picture. "Today started off a little rough, but I think this team will be good for me." The girl thought of how lonely her childhood was with her absent grandmother, both physically and emotionally, and children being scared of her due to her wild looking eyes and the weird things that would happen around due to her powers. It was kind of weird for her to encounter a group of people who accepted who she was and wasn't obligated to, like the monks at the compound. None them seemed fearful of her eyes (Kid Flash even commented how cool looking they were) and were weird in their own way, like her.

She looked outside her window to stare at the crescent white moon happily.

"Yeah I think maybe…this will work out."

* * *

**Remember to Review.**


	3. Chapter 3: Drop Zone

**_Disclaimer: See first chapter_**

_In which bright clothes turn dark, a villain may or may not be Voldemort, and a leader is chosen_

* * *

**Carribean Sea**

**July 22, 20:08 ECT**

The Bioship was silent as the Team mentally prepared themselves for their first official mission. Batman had sent them on a recon mission to Isla Santa Prisca. The island was known for being a world-wide producer of the illegal super steroid, Venom. But recently all activity in regards of shipping has stopped, while the production of the steroid hasn't. The Team's assignment therefore was to infiltrate the island, figure out what's going on, and report back to the League.

A simple mission.

'_For some reason I have a nagging feeling that this simple will be all but simple.' _Melanie mused as she thought over Batman's instructions. If the Mister Twister fiasco had taught her anything, it was that Murphy's Law was no joke. Nothing was ever simple when you chose the vigilante life style.

"We're approaching Santa Prisca." Miss Martian announced in a serious tone, breaking everyone out of their thoughts. "Drop Zone A in 30."

Aqualad nodded and got up from his seat. He pushed the A-shaped buckle on his belt and his usual uniform of a red shirt and navy pants turned dark gray and black, respectively. "Ready." He said as his seated literally melted into the floor.

"Putting Bioship into Camouflage mode." M'gann announced and after a few seconds she opened up a hole in the floor for Aqualad to jump down through. The whole team watched as their resident Atlantian made his way into the cold salty sea without a flinch.

"Drop Zone B." M'gann said as she and the rest team stood up to prepare for their stop. The green teenager closed her eyes in concentration causing three latches to appear in front of the boys (since her and Melanie could easily fly down without the use of lines because they're just that awesome). Kid Flash smiled as he touched the red lightning bolt on his suit which caused his ketchup and mustard themed uniform to turn dark gray and black.

"How cool is this?" He asked as motioned to himself with a grin. Being a science geek he found technology that could change the color of your clothes in just a press of a button something worth fangasming about.

Celestial smiled as she looked up and down at her new uniform. A couple of days ago she had found a medium-sized white box sitting on her bed once she got back home from her piano lessons. She was cautious at first since it wasn't her birthday or a gift-giving holiday (not that she ever got a gift on those days…) but after throwing a sock at it and it didn't explode, she deemed it safe enough to open. What she found inside made her eyes sore for widening so much. It was, what she presumed, a superhero outfit. Inside was a white sleeveless shirt that showed her midriff but had a very long back that stopped at her knees and slightly split into tails and black shorts. A fishnet wife beater and a fishnet thigh-high sock that was paired with one regular black sock. For hand protection the outfit came with two black fingerless gloves: one that came past her elbow, while the other was a standard heavy duty glove with a sturdy elbow guard paired with it. To finish off the outfit a black choker with the Aether symbol in the middle of it (and, to Melanie's surprise, a dark half face mask was concealed on the inside) was placed on top of the clothes.

Her face contorted in to many expressions as she examined her new uniform. Surprised, that someone gave her a uniform (she was badly sketching some ideas for the past week). Annoyed, that whoever gave her the outfit didn't leave a note or anything that told her who it was from. And thoughtful, as she wondered who could have done this. She didn't know any of the adult Leaguers well, so they were out. She was pretty sure none of her teammates were inspiring fashion designers, so they were also out of the equation. She had noticed her grandmother acting strange the other day but…

'_Yeah right. Like I'd get a gift as nice as this from a woman who told me that Santa doesn't visit Cuban children.' _Melanie dismissed as she tapped her choker to activate her Stealth-tech and pulled up her half mask. She looked over at Megan who had transformed her usual outfit into a version of Martian Manhunter's uniform.

"Uh that works too." Kid Flash gave the Martian an appreciative look before looking over at the quiet clone. "Hey Supey, not too late to put on the new Stealth-tech." The red-head tried to entice the clone to no avail.

"No capes, no tights…no offense." Superboy crossed his arms in determination. There was no way he was going to prance around in a monkey suit. He hated monkeys after all.

"It totally works for you." Megan gave Superboy a dreamy look before realizing what she just said out loud. "In that you can totally do good work in those clothes." She ended with a nervous laugh and a 'thumbs up' as Superboy gave her a 'you're-a-strange-person' look. The green Martian quickly pulled up her hood and entered camouflage mode to hide her embarrassment.

'_M'gann sure has knack for creating awkward situations.' _Melanie shook her head in amusement as she adjusted her enchanted bō staff that was strapped on her back. She had regretted leaving it home during the whole Mister Twister fight so this time she made sure to bring it with her. It was just a simple recon mission, but…it never hurts to be over prepared.

"Everyone ready?" Robin asked as he and Kid Flash hooked the lines to their belts. They all nodded and the two proceeded down to the island. Miss Martian and Celestial followed after them, slowly floating down to the ground. All their attempts were ruined, however, by Superboy jumping down and causing a small earthquake that knocked down the rest of the group.

"Knew I didn't need a line." The clone smirked at his 'accomplishment.'

Robin, however, didn't share his sentiment as he glared at the bigger teen. "And yet causing a seismic event may not have helped us with the covert."

Melanie nodded in agreement. "He's right. It's okay that you can jump far distances but you need to learn how to land softly." They both gave him a stern 'listen-to-our-awesome-wisdom-young-one' look that went largely ignored by the clone.

"Aqualad, drop B is a go." M'gann informed their resident Atlantian through her ear comm, leaving Superboy to be chastised further at a later date.

"Roger that." Aqualad's smooth voice came clear through the comm. "Head over to the factory and I'll track your GPS and rendezvous with you all ASAP."

With that command the group moved swiftly and silently through the island's dense jungle. Throughout the quiet, fast paced movement, Mel couldn't help but to fangirl a little inside her head. After all, this was her first time doing 'spy stuff' (as Kid Flash likes to call it) and with bunch of Super-powered teens like herself (well Robin didn't have powers, but he was badass without them…not that she will ever say that out loud).

Some moments into their creeping of the dark forest Superboy ears perked up at the sound of a breaking twig.

"Did you hear that?" The cone asked the group as he glanced around the area, looking for the source of the sound he heard.

"Um, no." Kid Flash answered for the group as they all came to a halt. "Wait, is this some super hearing thing or something?"

"You do have great ears…" M'gann said while looking dreamily at Superboy, though she went largely ignored.

"So, Rob what do we…" Kid Flash turned to the domino masked boy, only to find that he was missing…again. "Man I hate when he does that." He huffed.

Melanie walked up besides the red head. "You know if he's going to do that, he should at least inform one of us so we're all not standing around like a bunch of dumbasses. She crossed arms with an irritated glower. "He's so _es stupid_."

Kid Flash nodded in agreement but then raised an eyebrow and grin amusedly at Celestial's word choice. "_Es stupid?_"

Realizing her slip of tongue, Melanie quickly backtracked. "I-I mean, uh, he's so stupid." She corrected in full English. Sometimes when she was irritated or angry Melanie would slip into speaking Spanish, or at least started adding Spanish phrases in her English. It wasn't that she was embarrassed that she could speak the language, but she didn't want to be known as one of those stereotypical Spanish people that inserted Spanish words in their English every other sentence.

Aqualad's voice entered their comm's and broke through their conversation. "Kid Flash, Superboy, switch to infrared. Celestial, extend your sensing ability. See if you're being tracked."

Celestial closed eyes and took a deep breath, blocking out distractions so she could extend her 'life energy' sight.

Kid Flash pulled his crimson goggles over his green eyes. "There's one group of armed bozos incoming."

"Yes I sense them too." Celestial said with her eyes flashing open. "But I also sensed another group in the other direction. Both groups felt hostile but it's not directed at us."

"She's right." Superboy agreed as he looked in the other direction. "I think they'll run into each other before they see any of us." Everyone's eyebrows shot up as the loud popping sound of gunfire filled the air. "I think they just found each other." He looked over at Mel. "Looks like you were right about them not being hostile at us."

"Everyone swing wide and stay clear." Aqualad ordered the group.

"Yeah I will, right after I find Rob." And with that the speedster sped off before any of them could stop him.

After a few seconds Melanie turned to Miss Martian and Superboy. "We should probably go after him before he gets his head blown off or something equally as stupid." They both nodded exasperatedly, knowing that Wally was sort of clumsy. Just other day at Mount Justice he landed face first into a coconut cream pie Melanie had made with Megan (the Martian had assisted at getting cooking and baking lessons from the Conduit who was used to cooking for herself anyway).

They all rushed into the small grotto where Kid Flash was getting shot at. The three jumped into action to even the odds. Mel pulled out her bō staff and started deflecting bullets with it and knocking out guys with the enchanted staff. In the corner of her eye she saw Robin rejoined the group and help fight off some of the gun toting enemies.

"What is wrong with you guys? Remember covert?" He chastised as he fought off a few guys. "Why didn't you follow my lead and vanish into the jungle."

"Oh my gosh!" Melanie started sarcastically as she roundhouse kicked a guy in the gut that tried to punch her. "Why didn't we follow the **clear directions that you never said out loud!?**" She finished, giving another guy an uppercut with her staff.

"Yeah we're not mind readers!" Kid Flash snapped at the young teen. He glanced over to M'gann who had telekinetically slammed a few guys into a tree. "Well, not all us anyway." He corrected himself.

"You told me I'm only supposed to read the bad guys minds." Miss Martian argued back, wrongly interpreting the situation.

One guy tried to make a break for it while the other teens were distracted but Aqualad suddenly appeared and electrocuted him until he passed out.

"Everyone tie them all up." Aqualad ordered the group.

"Don't worry I got it." Melanie spoke up. They watched as she extended her hand out and thought for a moment. "**Liga hostes erunt.**" The whole team watched in wonder as vines burrowed their way out of the ground and wrapped themselves tightly around the unconscious foes.

Robin walked up to the tied up men and studied them closely. "I recognize these cloaks. They're from the Cult of Cobra."

"Batman would have mentioned something if he knew that an extremist cult leader was running Santa Prisca." Aqualad spoke up.

"Agreed." Robin muttered to himself. "Since Cobra's men don't seem to care for these goons, I'm assuming they took over control. That would explain why their supply line of Venom was cut off."

"Great. I guess that means we can radio Batman and leave." Kid Flash said with relief that they completed the recon mission even though he sort of screwed up.

"No." Robin shot down the idea firmly. "These cultists aren't on the Venom. Cobra's hoarding it all for himself. We don't leave, not until I know why."

Wally raised an eyebrow at him. "Until **you** know why?"

"This team needs a leader." Robin snapped at his friend.

Kid Flash scoffed. "Oh and it's you? Dude, you're a thirteen year old kid who ducked out on us without a word."

Robin cackled unamused. "And you're a mature fifteen?" You blew our cover the first chance you got."

The rest team watched as the two boys argued. Melanie turned to Aqualad with an annoyed expression. "Are they always like this?"

Aqualad let out a defeated sigh. "Not always, but when they do argue they can be quite…unnerving."

Melanie smirked at his word choice. "It's okay, you can say annoying. That's the most appropriate word after all."

Aqualad gave her a small smile and went to respond but they were interrupted by a deep chuckle from a masked man tied to a tree. "Such clever _niños_, but you only know half the story." He shook his head in amusement. "Shall I tell you the rest? I can get you into the factory via my secret entrance."

Melanie narrowed her gold eyes at the grown man with suspicion. His smile was really untrustworthy.

M'gann crouched down to his level to peer into his mind. "There is a secret entrance but he's also hiding something." Her yes glowed white as she dug deeper into his conscious.

"Ah, ah _chica_. Bane is not that easy."

M'gann stopped her attempts in frustration. "He's mentally reciting _fútbol _scores in _Español_. This could take a while.

"It's not complicated. The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Bane stated.

They all looked at each other until Aqualad nodded at Celestial to release him.

* * *

The group made their way through the jungle with Bane leading them. He led the teenagers to a cliff overlooking the factory. Robin pulled out a pair of high-tech binoculars.

"Look at all that product." He whispered to the group. "Why is there a buy going down if Cobras not selling to the usual suspects…"

"Then we need to identify that buyer." Aqualad finished, stating their new objective.

"Just what I was thinking." Kid Flash nodded in agreement.

Robin chuckled. "Oh and you're a thinker."

"Dude, sarcasm. Really?" He shook his head at the Boy Wonder. "A real leader would try to look for answers."

Melanie walked past them giving them both a look. "You know this mission would go a lot easier if you guys weren't at each other throats." She continued walking, ignoring the pleads of "It's his fault."

Bane effortlessly moved away a boulder, revealing a secret tunnel. "This way to answers." He smiled at them. They followed the muscular man and watched as he punched in codes to slide open a door that let them inside the factory. And once again Robin went ninja on them and vanished.

"Did the little fool get himself caught?" Bane asked.

"No." Aqualad rubbed his head in exasperation. "He just does that a lot."

"Stay put." Kid Flash said as he pulled his goggles over his eyes. "I'll get the intel and back before the Boy Wonder." He rushed off before Aqualad could catch him.

"Great chain of command." Bane sarcastically commented.

"Coming from the guy that got his own factory taken away from him." Melanie countered back, resulting in a fierce glared being directed to her.

The rest of the team and Bane made their way behind some cargo boxes to spy on the shipping port. "There not touching any of the old stuff." Aqualad observed. "They're only taking the new stuff straight off the line."

"Maybe freshness counts?" Miss Martian said unsurely, grasping for straws.

"Helicopter's coming." Superboy informed them. They all looked up to the skylight waiting for it to land. Finally helicopter blades came in sight, confirming Superboy's assessment.

"Miss Martian, enter camouflage mode and find out who the secret buyer is." Aqualad ordered. With a quick nod M'gann pulled up her hood and shimmered out of sight. A few moments later Aqualad's eyes flashed opened. "Sportsmaster, he's the buyer." He went to press his ear comm. "Aqualad to Red Tornado, do you read?" He waited a few seconds but got nothing. He groaned. "I can't reach the League , Robin, or Kid. Comm's jammed."

"I thought I felt some electrical interference in the air." Melanie commented. "Well I guess we need to figure out another plan."

"I have a suggestion." And with that Bane jumped down from their position and started attacking a couple of cult followers.

"What is he-?" Kaldur got cut off by a beast person crashing through the window and knocking them all down.

They all picked themselves up and faced not the only the beast, but also cult followers, a very pale man, and a girl with orange hair. The pale man commanded them all to "Destroy them!", commencing the start of the fight. Melanie had pulled out her staff and helped Aqualad out with deflecting the shots being fired at them. Feeling this was taking too long; Celestial slammed her foot down, creating a streamlined fissure that knocked some them down. She then flew up and started picking off the cult followers with energy blasts. A few minutes later she felt Miss Martian speak in her mind.

"_Everyone on line?" _They all gave their confirmation except for Robin who said he was busy at the moment when Aqualad suggested they regroup. They continued to fight but seeing how this was taking way too long, Aqualad mentally ordered Robin to rejoin the group. Once the Boy Wonder met up with them, Aqualad ordered Kid to clear a path; letting them retreat back into the secret cave Bane had shown them. But unfortunately they were being followed.

"Superboy, the support beams!" Aqualad commanded and soon the ceiling caved in, blocking their pursuers from them. Once they were sure the enemy wasn't going try to dig their way through, Aqualad pulled out a red glow stick and the cave was illuminated with crimson light.

"How could my first mission as team leader go so wrong?" Robin lamented mostly to himself. He was so confident that this mission would be performed flawlessly, but instead everything that could go wrong went wrong.

"You have the most experience, but perhaps that is what left you unprepared." Aqualad explained softly. "When you're with Batman, your roles are clearly defined. But this team is new and the leader must be clear and explicit. He cannot vanish and expect his team to follow an unknown plan."

"Oh so now I'm supposed hold everyone's hand!" He snapped and then sighed in defeat. "Who am I kidding? You should lead us Kaldur, you're the only one who can." He ended with a smile.

"Oh please I could run circles-," Wally started but was interrupted by Robin stating that this decision was for the best.

"Hello Megan, it's so obvious."

"Yeah you were basically leading us anyway." Celestial gave him a friendly jabbed (she accidently put some super strength behind it which caused Kaldur to rub the now tender spot on his arm).

"Could have told you that." Superboy said while crossing his arms.

They all look at Wally sending him waves of 'listen-to-us-we-know-what-we're-talking-about.' Finally he shrugged and agreed with them.

Touched by his friends' faith in him he nodded in compliance. "Then I will accept the burden." He then moved towards Robin and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I will be the leader until you're ready to take over. You were born to lead this team. Maybe not now, but soon." Robin nodded at Aqualad's assurance.

"Alright our first priority is preventing the shipping from leaving the island." Aqualad explained as the team grouped up in a circle.

"Funny, I had the same thought." Robin added happily.

They all started rushing through the dark cave as they were going over the plan. Robin activated his glove computer and started sifting through the documents and files he hacked and downloaded earlier.

"Sportsmaster is the supplier/buyer, but it still doesn't track. He doesn't have the juice to acquire the Blockbuster formula nor to get Cobra to do his dirty work."

"Neither of them have the chops to chemically bond the Venom and Blockbuster formula together." Kid Flash added his two cents. "That takes some major nerdage."

"I believe the expression is 'tip of the iceberg.' Aqualad said slowly as he and the team came to the halt as Bane made his presences known at the entrance of the cave.

"Halt ninos, I'm feeling…very explosive." Bane said with an amused smirk. The team looked up to find quite a few explosives strapped to the edge of the entrance of the cave.

"You betrayed us. Why?" Aqualad looked genuinely surprised but it was a ruse to get Bane to start talking, while he mentally told Wally to get a running start to grab the bomb trigger.

"I wanted my factory back." Bane stated with a nonchalant shrug. "So I forced you in a situation where you either you took down my enemies or die trying. If the latter, the Justice League would've certainly come to avenge their sidekicks. And once the smoke cleared, Santa Prisca would be mine once more. Blowing the tunnel with you inside, should have the same effect." He smirked and went to push the button to detonate the bombs, only to feel air as his thumb went down.

"With what?" He turned around to find Kid Flash leaning coolly on a tree. "This trigger thingy?"

Bane went to punched the wise cracking speedster but was lifted up effortlessly by Miss Martian's telekinesis.

Melanie walked and smile at the floating betrayer. "That's what you get when you start to monologue~."

Superboy walked up beside Miss Martian and Celestial with an eager smile on his face. "Finally…drop him." And with that the last thing Bane saw before he blacked out was an incoming fist.

* * *

Quickly tying the masked man up to a tree, the team proceeded discussing their plan on dealing with Sportmaster and Cobra. With Kid Flash, Celestial rushed in and started taking out some of the followers, providing a first line of offense. She saw out of the corner her eye, while she threw a guy into another, Robin facing Cobra after he took care of the girl henchman. She made her way somewhat near them to observe the fight, just in case she needed to interfere. Robin fought with all his might, but Cobra easily deflected all his hits with little to no effort. Eventually Cobra was able to pin down Robin with just his foot, causing the Boy Wonder to groan in pain.

"I am plagued my mosque-," He was cut off by a shout coming from his the other direction.

"Enchanted Staff, Extend!"

He turned to the source of the shout. "Enchanted Staff what?" He barely finished as an end of a black staff smashed into his side pushing him off of Robin and onto a nearby tree, pinning him there.

Celestial smirked as she silently retracted her staff, causing Cobra to slide down ungracefully. "You know…I had no idea that Voldemort was running another cult on the side." Her comment earned her a laugh from Robin who had got up and stood beside her. Soon the whole team regrouped with them, all in rigid fighting stances as Cobra stood up.

Cobra looked at them all for a moment before realizing the fight probably wouldn't end in his favor. "Another time then." He stepped back and disappeared into the darkness of the dense jungle.

They all looked on in surprise as the Cult Leader vanished like Robin often did. Turning around they all gazed at the now flaming factory.

"We picked the right guy to lead." Robin started as he walked up to Kaldur. "This automatically makes you the right guy to explain this mess to Batman." He ended with a cackle, glad to be off the hook for once.

Celestial walked up next to Aqualad, giving him a confident smile. "Don't worry; I'm sure Batman will be very understanding of this." She gestured to the burning factory.

Aqualad smiled at his teammate's attempt to cheer him up. "Really?"

"Pfft, no!" Melanie dropped her façade. "He's probably going to be really pissed off at us. Good luck though." She gave him a 'thumbs up' and started to walk away with Robin as they both cheerily discussed how awesome it was that they weren't going to get most of the blame.

All Aqualad could do was shake his head at his friends antics.

"_This is going to be a…trying couple of years."_

* * *

**Mount Justice**

**July 23, 10:01 EDT**

They all stood at attention as Batman walked up and down the line they formed as he lectured them about their deviated mission.

"A simple recon mission. Observe and report." He paused his walking to glare at Kaldur. "You'll each receive a written evaluation detailing your many mistakes." He paused once again and turned to face the teens. "Until then…good job." The downtrodden teenagers looked up in surprise. After all, they did just get complimented my The Batman.

"No battle plan ever survives first contact with the enemy. However, adjusting to the unforeseen is what determines success. How you choose who leads determines character" He gave them all one last glare for the heck of it. "You are all dismissed for now." He then turned around and stalked away; his cape billowing gracefully as he did.

"How does his cape do that even when there's no wind?" Melanie asked out loud after the Dark Knight was out of sight. The team, also curious about the phenomenon, all looked at Robin for an answer.

The Boy Wonder, however, just shrugged. "I have no idea. Every time I ask him he either ignores me or just simply says "I'm Batman" as if that explains everything." He then paused and thought for a moment. "Then again that excuse does kind of explain about 95 % of how he gets things done."

They all laughed at Robin's answer and, with a suggestion from Wally, went towards the living room to watch a movie. Though an argument quickly broke out between Robin and Kid Flash on what kind of movie to watch. It didn't help that Superboy didn't have an opinion; Megan kept agreeing with everything they both said;and Melanie shot down every suggestion they offered.

Aqualad walked behind all of them, watching his teammates interact with each other.

_Leading this team may be a burden…but a burden I'll gladly take on._

* * *

**_So I got this chapter out a lot faster than I thought I would. Don't expect this to be the norm, but I can promise there will be a new chapter (or two) every month. Please review and/or fav and follow. I really want you guys opinion and to know if people are reading this story._**


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